Getting in the face of beasts
PE ‘hobby photographer’ scoops top award with intimate picture
“Locking horns” took on a literal meaning in a captivating picture snapped by celebrated photographer and Port Elizabeth lawyer John Vosloo.
The image, entitled “An Eye for an Eye”, depicts two buffaloes engaged in a serious fight – with the one’s horns in the face of the other and the tip of the horn almost in the other animal’s eye.
The picture edged out hundreds of entries and on December 18 was announced as Getaway magazine’s Photograph of the Year.
“It’s always an exciting scene when two of these massive animals have a full go at each other,” Vosloo said.
“Their power and speed are simply unbelievable, and this image shows how easily they can injure each other.
“I wanted to capture the symmetry and almost-checkmate position of their horns.”
He walked away with a prize worth over R100,000, which includes a holiday getaway and new camera equipment.
This was not Vosloo’s first big win.
His photograph, “Circles of Protection”, taken at the Addo Elephant National Park, won him Africa Geographic 2017 Photographer of the Year in the wildlife category.
Of the picture, the judges said: “Vosloo’s image is not only technically sound, but there is also a rich and complex visual story.
“It is the story of matriarchal and herd protection, of
He also won Africa Geographic 2017 Photographer of the Year in the wildlife category
‘My mantra is to let my heart and my mind be the lens – the camera is just the tool’ JOHN VOSLOO
AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER
the African elephants’ dignified dedication to protecting their young and their species.
“Elephants face unprecedented persecution from international wildlife criminals, from human-wildlife conflict pressures, from habitat loss and from trophy hunters that persist in their strategy to remove the remaining large-tusked individuals.
“This magnificent photo speaks of the plight of elephants across Africa, and of their resilience – if only humans would change their ways.”
Vosloo also won a Photographic Society of SA award in 2017.
“My mantra in photography is to let my heart and my mind be the lens – the camera is just the tool,” he said on Thursday.
“I always try to capture the soul of an animal, to try and capture why an elephant is an elephant, why is a lion a lion
. . . and what is vital about a lion is its ability to see, its ability to hunt . . . a buffalo, its horns and its size; an elephant, its incredible sense of smell, sense of memory [and] sense of family-ship.”
Vosloo, a lawyer, said photography was “exclusively a hobby”.
“I generally have a passion for photographing elephants – because we’re lucky enough to be close to the Addo Elephant Park, I tend to lean to photographing elephants.
“They’re incredibly complex and intelligent creatures so by just watching them and photographing them a person can understand so much of them.
“I’ve been involved with photography for most of my life, for many years . . . and just by hard work and doing a lot research and spending time out in the bush, coupled with my experience from years and years ago in the darkroom – [which] helped me immensely to understand the concept of photography – my photography has gone from strength to strength.”
So, what is his secret? “I spend a lot of time thinking about the difference between a pretty picture and a picture that arrests or grabs one’s attention,” Vosloo said.
“And I try to make my pictures more personal, to get into the face of the animal.
“I try to capture the emotion [and] what that animal is all about. I try to get an image that when a viewer walks past, they are compelled to look at it again.
“So my pictures are generally really intimate photographs – which takes a lot of time and sometimes puts one in some semi-hazardous positions because you need to get quite close. And to get close to lions, buffaloes and elephants can get quite hair-raising.”